A peaceful demonstration in Milan on Saturday, close to the Olympic Village in northern Italy, turned violent after most of the march dispersed.
Police said about 10,000 people took part in the larger, peaceful march toward the Olympic Village. Once that mass of demonstrators left, a smaller group remained and clashed with officers. Protesters set off smoke devices and threw flares, stones and fireworks at police, who responded with batons, water cannon and tear gas to disperse the crowds.
The protests targeted the environmental impact of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, which opened on Friday. One banner by a group calling itself the Unsustainable Olympic Committee read, “Let’s take back the cities and free the mountains.” Demonstrators carried cardboard cutouts symbolizing trees cut down to build a new bobsled run in Cortina.
The demonstrations coincided with the visit of US Vice President JD Vance, who led the US delegation and attended the opening ceremony to a mixture of boos and applause. Protesters also objected to the presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents assigned to protect US officials, including Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Italy deployed roughly 6,000 security personnel across Olympic sites for the duration of the Games.
Edited by: Sean Sinico
